📌 1. What is the essence of transaction fees?
In cryptocurrency, 'transaction fees' include two main categories:
Transaction fees charged by the platform (CEX)
For centralized exchanges like Binance, Bybit, OKX, a maker/taker fee is charged for each buy/sell, usually around 0.01% to 0.1%.
On-chain Gas Fee (DEX / DeFi)
For example, when trading on Uniswap, in addition to the protocol fee, you also have to pay miner/verifier Gas (like ETH or L2 Gas), which depends on the congestion level of the blockchain.
🧭 My views and observations
1. Although transaction fees are small, they are a matter of life and death for high-frequency traders.
Retail investors may not care about a 0.1% fee, but for high-frequency traders (especially in perpetual contract markets), every entry and exit point accumulates cost.
The net profit of hedging, grid, and quantitative strategies will be largely consumed by transaction fees.
👉 Strategy: Choosing exchanges that offer VIP tiers, rebates, or zero transaction fee promotions is crucial.
2. Changes in transaction fee policies affect user flow and ecosystem structure.
When Binance Zero-Fee BTC trading was launched, a large volume of trading flowed in from other platforms.
L2s like Arbitrum / Base quickly attract DeFi protocols for deployment due to low Gas costs, and funds migrate on-chain accordingly.
👉 Transaction fees are a 'capital drainage tool'—those who charge less can attract liquidity first and win.
3. DeFi transaction fees are opaque and complicated, limiting public participation.
Transaction fees on DEXs come from multiple sources: the protocol itself (like Uniswap charging 0.05–0.3%), liquidity providers (LP), bridging fees, Gas fees…
A small transaction may become extremely unprofitable due to high Gas fees, which is very unfriendly to small investors.
👉 The solution will be more aggregators (like 1inch, Cowswap) and the popularity of Rollup technology, allowing costs to be automatically optimized and transparent.
4. In the future, more 'zero transaction fee' models will emerge, but beware of hidden costs.
To attract users, new exchanges or DEXs (like dYdX, Hyperliquid) will claim 'zero transaction fees' or 'Gas Subsidy.'
But behind it may be through:
Widening spreads
Hidden slippage
Token inflation subsidies
Or monetize user data.
👉 Therefore, 'low transaction fees ≠ no cost,' and it is necessary to look at the overall trading experience and total costs.
✅ Small suggestion: How can users effectively manage transaction fees?
User Type Suggested Strategy
General retail investors Use VIP tier system / referral code discounts (Binance, Bybit, etc. offer rebates)
DEX users Choose low Gas chains, like Base, Arbitrum, or use aggregators to save costs.
High-frequency trading Be sure to calculate 'each transaction fee + slippage + funding rate' and consider CEX rebate programs.
Holders Some platforms offer fee reductions for holding their native tokens (like BNB, OKB).
✍️ Conclusion: Transaction fees are not just numbers, but the core of competitiveness.
Transaction fees are the 'friction costs' in crypto finance.
In the future, competition among platforms will no longer just be about the number of listed coins or the quality of UI, but about who can allow users to participate in the market at a lower cost while maintaining transparency and trust.
Those who can save on transaction fees have the chance to outperform the market.
